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Kings fall in five-set heartbreaker to Capilano Blues

Play Lethbridge College Kodiaks in bronze semifinal Saturday morning
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It was an epic battle in the Canadian Collegiate Athletic Association Men’s Volleyball Championship semifinal.

The RDC Kings, ranked third in Canada, had a chance to advance to the national final for the second straight year Friday, with only PACWEST Conference champion Capilano Blues standing in the way.

RDC lost a close first set 25-22 but rallied back with wins in sets three and four (25-14, 25-23). In the fourth, everything seemed to go wrong for RDC and they fell 25-14.

That set up the fifth set, where the two heavyweights went point-for-point after the Blues took a 4-0 lead but RDC stormed back to tie it. Capilano picked up the two points that mattered most with the game tied at 13 and punched their ticket to the gold medal match with a 15-13 win in the final set.

In the loss, Kings rookie Carter Hills was a beast. He finished with a match-high 20 kills and was named player of the game. In the fifth set, he had three kills and three block assists. For some of the match, the Kings managed to shutdown Capilano’s main threat in Rafael Hilario, but he got the better of RDC in the end with 18 kills and a big block to close out the night. Patrick Toze had 14 kills for the Kings and was big from the service line with four aces.

The Kings had 16 service errors in the match and only six aces.

The Kings will now play in the bronze medal semifinal against the Lethbridge College Kodiaks, who the Kings defeated in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference Championship Final last month. Lethbridge was also ranked second in the country, ahead of the Kings this season. That match will get underway at 9 a.m. and can be streamed live at www.portal.stretchinternet.com/ccaasportsacsc/.



Byron Hackett

About the Author: Byron Hackett

Byron has been the sports reporter at the advocate since December of 2016. He likes to spend his time in cold hockey arenas accompanied by luke warm, watered down coffee.
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